Pokémon Heroes: Return to Altomare
by AltomareBianca
Summary: During his journey in Kalos, Ash Ketchum decides to take a visit to the small town of Altomare, and meet up with some old friends.
1. The Adventure Begins!

[Text like this means the character is thinking.]

"Pika?"

Ash jumped with a startle, and looked around, seeing only his little companion staring at him.

"Oh, phew, it was just you Pikachu, that was a pretty good scare right there!" Ash exclaimed, still breathing rather heavily. He looked around, and remembered just about nothing, for some odd reason. He got up and walked around, and then remembered he was on a boat. Where to, however, he had forgotten.

He got dressed and walked out the door, and as luck would have it Clemont and Bonnie had woken up a little while before and were waiting for Ash and Serena, who still hadn't shown up yet.

"Ash, are you OK?" Bonnie questioned, as Ash was stumbling around, and he fell flat on his face.

"Oh, I don't know, really. As a matter of fact, I don't know anything right now." Ash wearily said. It was clear that he was falling asleep.

"Pika...CHUUUU!" The room flashed with a bright yellow light as Pikachu fired a weak Thunderbolt at Ash.

"WhaaaAAAA!" Ash cried, before fainting. Ash had blacked out, and Clemont was observing Ash while he was knocked out.

"It's a good thing Pikachu zapped him," Clemont remarked, "he may just get his memory back soon."

Three hours later, Ash woke up.

"What's for lunch?" Ash asked, weakly.

Clemont automatically knew that the Ash Ketchum he knew was back. He sighed a sigh of relief. Serena, on the other hand, was sweating heavily and it was very obvious that she was worried about Ash. Ash could hear her almost about to cry behind him. Ash then suddenly perked up and went to talk to Serena, at least get her out of the way before they did anything else.

"How long till we reach Altomare?" Ash asked Clemont. Clemont responded with a shrug, and Ash was a little upset but carried on. Suddenly the boat came to a halt, and Ash realised that his question was already answered. Knowing that they had just gotten there, Clemont told Ash, "Oh, I know now. Zero minutes and zero seconds."

Ash didn't look very amused with Clemont's remark, so he left the boat without saying a word to his companion. Ash darted off the boat, nearly falling off the dock in to the water. In fact, the only reason Ash didn't fall off was because Pikachu had started to pull him back.

"Thanks buddy," Ash sighed. He tried to hold back from excitement as he darted away from the dock. He stopped, took a breath, and stood still for a moment. Then suddenly, a loud...

SPLASH!

Ash was shocked - he had done nothing but he ended up flying in to the water! What happened?!

But soon the anger and surprise on Ash's face faded away, and he smiled. That one little smile turned in to a chuckle, and that chuckle turned in to Ash laughing. Everyone stopped and stared for a moment. Some random kid was laughing for no reason. Serena and Clemont looked at Ash, as if they were worried. Bonnie just sat there, looking oddly at the boy.

[Oh come on, Latias, you can do SOOO much better than that!] Ash thought, when suddenly, a loud CRASH of the waves sent Ash soaring. Ash seemed to be doing nothing but having a good time.

Ash had started to fly away, and the group soon after chased him. They stopped and rested for a little while as they were tired. Ash was falling to the ground, and everyone gasped, though Serena let out an obviously louder and more worried gasp. Then, he was carried away, and suddenly Serena seemed like she was going to explode.

"How is the wind strong enough to do THAT?!" she yelled, worried for Ash's safety.

"I don't think that's the wind," Clemont remarked, staring at a red and white dragon who had Ash on it's back.

"Thanks, Latias," Ash exclaimed, looking at the dragoness.

"Latias?!" The other three were astonished, Clemont especially.

"That's right." A voice said, though no one really knew who it came from, except Ash, that is. Ash's face lit up, and Serena knew she had some kind of competition for Ash as of now.


	2. Welcome to Altomare!

**So here's the next chapter, which I started shortly after the last chapter was finished, so I hope you like it!**

 **Just a note:** **  
**

 **[Text like this means the character is thinking.]**

Serena, who didn't seem in a very good mood anymore, questioned what was going on, and Clemont could easily tell something was wrong.

"What is it Serena?" Clemont asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Huh? Oh, uh..yeah, everything's absolutely fine!" she replied nervously, she knew that she couldn't fool anyone for very long,

"Ash, do you have any idea who that is?" Serena asked Ash. She figured he did, as he seemed very excited when he heard the voice.

"Oh, yeah! Forgot!" he said enthusiastically. "Hey! Come on out!" the boy shouted, and a girl emerged in the group's sight. "This is my friend, Bianca!" he exclaimed, and Serena's face grew red at the sight. She knew this wasn't going to be an easy battle.

"So, wait a minute, is that _your_ Latias?!" Clemont inquired, as it seemed apparent to him that the girl knew who the dragon.

"Well, no, but we're pretty close friends," replied Bianca. "But I can see how you could think that."

"Fascinating," replied the inventor.

"These are my friends, Bianca." Ash said. "Clemont, Serena, and Bonnie."

"Hi!" the three said in unison, though Serena didn't seem to thrilled to meet this girl.

"I'm sure you don't need me to introduce myself and Pikachu," Ash laughed. Bianca and Latias already knew Ash pretty well. Anyone who watched Serena would gradually see her get angrier and angrier, and she had hoped that at least some one would notice, she aimed toward Ash, but instead, who but Bianca had seen her.

"Are you alright?" she asked, "you look a bit...upset." Serena had had enough with this girl, and she stormed off, without saying a word. She was upset, both with Bianca and Ash.

"I guess that's a no," Bonnie remarked. "Serena, wait up!" she cried, and she dashed towards the upset girl. Serena just ran faster.

"I guess it's best to leave her alone, Bonnie. Chasing her isn't going to help much, if at all." Clemont said, restraining the little child from running any further.

"Wow, Serena must not be feeling very well today," Ash commented.

"Pika-pi," Pikachu added.

"Did I do something?" Bianca asked. "I feel like I upset her or something."

"I doubt you did anything wrong, Bianca. Well, let's worry about it some other time. She'll come back when she's ready. In the meantime, have any suggestions on what to do?" Ash replied. Just by looking at the boy, Bianca could tell that he was hungry.

"Hungry, you guys?" she asked the group. "Wait, that was a stupid question, you're always hungry, Ash."

Ash's face grew a bit red of embarrassment, and retorted with a simple "Hey!"

"Haha!" Bianca laughed a bit. "Come on, let's go get something to eat."

"Fine with me!" Ash said, then realised that he had proven Bianca's point true.

"Gotcha!" Bianca said, chuckling. As the group went to eat, Serena was sitting down on a bench in a quiet location.

She seemed to be slightly more relaxed.

"So this girl thinks it's okay to just take him away, huh?" Serena said to herself. "I had that boy WAY before she did!" Then she stopped and thought for a moment. [That's not true,] she thought. [He met her back in his Johto days. Maybe she had him first...] She needed some help, from anyone, at this point.

"Braixen! Come on out!" she cried, throwing Braixen's Poké Ball in to the air. Suddenly the Pokémon appeared right in front of her.

Braixen could sense something was wrong and it looked at Serena. Nothing else happened much. Both Serena and Braixen were at a loss of words, so Serena sent Braixen back in to it's Ball. Serena decided to find the others after a while, and off she went.


	3. Memories

[Text like this means the character is thinking.]

"Thanks, Bianca! That was great!" Ash exclaimed.

"No problem, guys!" she said. She seemed to be in a very cheerful mood.

"Hey, has anyone seen La-"

"Shhhh!" Both Ash and Bianca went and silenced Clemont before he could finish his sentence. They didn't want him to expose the Eon Pokémon.

"Clemont, over here," whispered Bianca. "I need to tell you something."

Clemont went over to Bianca, who was standing behind a wall. "We don't wanna expose them," she told him, "so we refer to the two as Tia and Tio in public. They mostly disguise as humans so they can get by rather peacefully."

"Wait, Latios is here too?" Clemont asked.

"Yep, so let's keep quiet, OK?"

"Oh, OK," Clemont said. They walked back out to Ash and Bonnie. Tia, disguised as Bianca, was playing with Pikachu and Bonnie's Dedenne. Tio, on the other hand, was disguised as Ash, but he looked different. Ash looked at Tio, and chuckled. He knew that it was a Latios though, because, well, he was the only Ash.

"I remember that old hat," he said. "I wore it here when I was here for the first time!"

"Yep!" Bianca said, laughing. "You also wore a similar outfit."

"Wait, I thought the other dragon was gone!" Ash said, since he was remembering what happened.

"Yeah, but something happened one day while I was gone," Bianca replied. "When I came back, there was Tio!"

"Then how did he become me?" Ash asked.

"Well, we think he either saw a sketch of you that I had drawn. We also think he might be the same one as before, so he would have seen you."

"Oh, wow!" Ash exclaimed.

"Hey, guys!"

"Serena's back! Yay!" Bonnie yelled. She was happy to see her best friend again.

"There you are! Are you alright, Serena?" Bianca asked. "You missed lunch!"

"Oh well, I'm not very hungry right now." Serena replied.

The group moved forward, and Tio and Tia followed. It took Serena a moment to realise Tio and Tia.

"Wait, why are there two Ashes?!" Serena exclaimed. [On the bright side, I have a second shot at getting Ash. Oh, wait...] "Why are there two of you, too, Bianca?!" [Oh no, another Bianca. Yay.]

Bianca pulled Serena aside, and told her what she told Clemont.

"Oh, OK." she said.

They walked around for a bit, then reached Bianca's house.

"Well, here we are!" she exclaimed. "It's about time, honestly. It doesn't normally take me this long to get home! Please guys, come in!" Everybody walked in and sat down.

"Phew, I'm tired," Bonnie complained.

"Must have been a long journey, huh?" Bianca remarked.

"Yeah, but it was all worth it!" Ash said.

"Oh yeah, I remembered something a minute ago," Bianca said. "Be right back!" Everyone watched as Bianca left the room and returned with a brown box. A label reading "PALLET TOWN" was attached to the side.

"Still haven't opened it!" she told Ash, and she grabbed a knife and cut the tape. She opened the box, and in it, Ash's old Pokémon League Expo hat. Bianca's face lit up with joy while Serena's faded away.

"Ash...you- you- you shouldn't..."

"Oh come on, Bianca, keep it."

"I...I...can't..." she said softly. It seemed she was about to cry.

"Bianca, take it, please," Ash reassured her. A few tears ran down her face, but she tried to hide them in Ash's arm.

After the dramatic afternoon, and Bianca hugging and thanking Ash for an hour, it had already become dark.

"We better get going, and find some place to stay," Ash said.

"There seems to be a perfect place to stay relatively close to here," Serena added.

"Well, I guess we should get going, then," Clemont said. The group left, but Bianca, Tia, and Tio followed, just to say good-bye.

"We're...here?" Serena said. The place looked like it hadn't opened for decades. The group soon started to rethink their plans.

"How about you guys just stay at my place, until we can find you a better place?" Bianca offered.

"Thanks, actually. That's a pretty good idea if you ask me." Ash said.

"Of course, come on guys!" Bianca said. Tia nudged Bianca, and somehow Bianca knew exactly what Tia wanted. "Race, guys?"

"Why not?" Ash said.

"Yay!" Bonnie cried.

"Sure," commented Serena.

"Um...uh..." Clemont hesitated.

"3...2...1..." Everyone was ready...

"Go!"

TIa had rushed ahead, with Bianca behind. Ash was catching up though, and soon he and Bianca were tied. Bianca made a small gain, but then Ash made a small gain. Soon, Ash had bypassed both Bianca and Tia. He won, but by a very little amount. Tia had almost caught up to him. Tio was behind Bianca, followed by Serena and Bonnie. Naturally, Clemont was last.

"Come on, Clemont!" Bonnie whined.

"Is he always this slow?" Bianca inquired.

"Yep, he is." Ash said. "Dunno why, but he's pretty slow."

"Clemont, you're too slow!" Bonnie complained.

"Dennene!" Dedenne cried.

"Pika-pika!" said Pikachu, who seemed to be cheering him on.

"I'm...there!..." Clemont panted, he felt so tired.

-Next chapter will be here soon, guys, don't worry, probably tomorrow. Don't now how much more writing I can do for a day!


	4. Battle Partners, part 1

Hey guys! So I've been experimenting around with the site and noticed that formatting (italics, etc.) DON'T appear in the computer site (for me, anyways), but do in the mobile site, so I will stick to NOT using formatting, instead, the typical bracket system. Also, I've had a request for longer chapters. I'll try and do longer chapters but only expect 1 or two a day, as opposed to shorter, more chapters.

[Text like this represents thinking.]

Clemont, who had "FINALLY caught up" (Bonnie's exact words), stopped to take a breath. Or two. Or maybe twenty. They didn't keep track. Clemont fell to the ground, panting, so Bonnie had to get Ash and Tia to help lift him up, and get him in to the house. Tio and Bianco were laughing at the scene, and they put Clemont down on the carpet.

"Hey Clemont, how's the carpet?" Bianca asked, jokingly.

"Comfortable, actually," Clemont replied, and he slowly drifted off to sleep. Bianca quickly got places ready for everyone to sleep, and everyone went to bed. Ash, for some reason, decided to sleep on the floor, for whatever reason, and Serena had very little issue with that, as they were sharing the living room floor now. While Ash dozed off, Serena stayed wide awake for hours. Eventually, however, she could not fight off sleep, and eventually fell in to it herself.

Outside the house, some strange events were happening. A man, wearing a dark suit with a big blue "P" on the back. With him, a man in a navy blue suit with a red symbol.

"Come on out, Talonflame!" he whispered. The man in the navy blue sent out a Raichu.

"Let's sneak in," said the Team Flare member, getting his Raichu primed for battle.

"Right," said the Team Plasma man. "Talonflame, Flamethrower!" A loud BOOM! filled the room, and Ash woke up.

"Pika-pika!" Pikachu cried. Ash woke up Serena and thought to himself. [Be brave, Ash, get ready to fight!] Ash was obviously worried. Serena reached for her things and pulled out Braixen's Poké Ball.

"Braixen, we need your help!" she cried, and Braixen materialized right in front of it's trainer.

"Who are you?!" Ash yelled at the two Team members. "And what do you grunts want?!" Just then, Clemont and Bianca appeared on the scene. Tio and Tia were back at the secret garden to stay safe. At the sight of Clemont, the two team members became visibly nervous.

"Uh oh, dealing with a Gym Leader could get rather...awkward," the Flare guy said.

"Team Flare!" Clemont exclaimed. "Why are you here?!" A battle was about to go down.

"Braixen, Ember!" Serena cried, firing at the Raichu.

"Pikachu,Thunderbolt!"

"Pika...CHUUUU!" Pikachu charged up all it had and fired directly at Talonflame.

"Type matchups!" Clemont said enthusiastically. "They're in Ash's favor right now!" Talonflame had returned to it's Ball.

"Espeon!" the Plasma member said. An Espeon emerged at the scene. Serena had learned a lot about types with Clemont, so she made a decision.

"Braixen, come back!" she exclaimed, and she sent out Pancham. Raichu was weakened severely and could easily be defeated.

"Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash ordered. Direct hit! The Team Flare member's Raichu fainted!

"Pancham, Dark Pulse on Espeon!" the little panda missed the Pokémon, and was countered by a Swift.

"Go! Gyarados!" said the Team Flare guy, who's name was Derek.

"Alright Pikachu, Electro Ball!" Pikachu had created a giant electric energy ball and aimed at the Gyarados, and shot it. It hit the Gyarados, but the Pokémon came right back in to battle.

"Gyarados is paralyzed," Bianca remarked. She was very interested in the battle.

"Pancham, Dark Pulse!" The Pokémon attacked the Espeon, and the Espeon had fainted. However, Team Plasma's Sebastian was ready to fight.

"Gyarados! Hyper Beam!" Sebastian shouted. A beam of spectacular light fired at Pancham knocking it out. Serena called the Pancham back. Ash was now 1 versus 2.

"Wait, Ash!" Bianca told the boy. She ran up next to him. "Don't worry, I've got your back," she said, blushing.

Part 2 will (hopefully) be here tomorrow!


	5. Battle Partners, part 2

Thanks, Vengenace2017 for the feedback! I plan on using Alto- and Amour- ships, as well as Mareshipping (aka Ash X Bianca). Thanks, man! ;)

[Text like this represents thinking.]

Text like this represents telepathy.

Bianca put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a Poké Ball of her own. Ash was surprised, but not too surprised. He figured she would have to catch her own Pokémon sometime or another.

"Go, Bayleef!" she yelled, throwing the ball with great speed. Ash was shocked as she could easily throw the Ball faster than he ever had. [How?!] He thought to himself. He then remembered that there was a battle at hand, and quickly forgot about the Ball.

"Razor Leaf!" Bianca ordered, and the Gyarados seemed weak. At least, weaker than when it was hit by Pikachu's Thunderbolt.

"Alright, go, Dugtrio!" Sebastian cried. "Dig!" The Dugtrio disappeared from the battlefield and Ash realised the mistake he made. If Pikachu was hit, he would have no more Pokémon left, he forgot to bring his other Poké Balls out! The sneaky Dugtrio furiously and quickly popped up from right under Pikachu. Pikachu had fainted, and Ash was out of usable Pokémon!

"I've got one thing left," Bianca said. She was worried that this was a last resort, but she had nothing left other than this. "Take Down!" Bayleef hit the Gyarados, and the Gyarados was out for the count.

"Look!" Clemont said. "Bayleef couldn't take the recoil! It can't fight anymore!"

"Well then...what do I do?" Bianca's voice trembled, and a tear dropped down. "These guys can't...oh, I'd hate to think what they'd do..." she sniffled and started crying. Tia came out of nowhere and stood right in front of Ash.

"What?!" Ash exclaimed. He was astonished. Tia wanted to battle for him!

"Haha!" Sebastian laughed. "You can't use a human to battle, kid!" As soon as those words came out of the Grunt's mouth, Tia started to show a bright white light. Soon, she was in her true, Pokémon form.

"Alright, Tia,"Ash cried. "Mist Ball!" The Dugtrio nearly avoided, but Latias's attack was simply too fast for the other Pokémon, and the Dugtrio was retrieved.

"Sebastian!" Derek cried. "Hurry!" And off the grunts ran, away from the scene of their loss. Bianca took Ash and Latias inside, leaving Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena outside.

"What were you THINKING?!" Bianca scolded the Trainer and Tia. "Great! You just exposed a rare Pokémon, in front of TWO crime organizations, nonetheless!" She was visibly ticked off, and she started crying. She ran in to some room, slamming and locking the door behind her.

Ash layed down, his head was pounding. Tia went back in to human form, and laid down next to Ash. Tia started to cry as well. [What WERE you thinking?] she asked herself. [I just put Bianca, myself, and everyone else here in danger!] She started bawling.

"Don't worry, Tia, I'll protect you," Ash said, smiling at the girl.

How did you know what I was thinking? Tia asked.

"I can hear your thoughts. Telepathy?" Ash replied, though he too was baffled at the fact that he could hear this Pokémon's thoughts.

I...I guess so, Latias said. Or thought. Or however you classify that. But you really mean it?

"Of course," Ash said sweetly. "Under any circumstances." That put Tia's mind at ease. She cozied up next to Ash and smiled. They both dozed off.

A little while later, the others came in. They all went to bed peacefully, except for Serena, who could not sleep. She tried EVERYTHING. The girl waited forever, until she peacefully dozed off...


	6. War

Sorry about the lack of updates for a while, been busy with other things. (And by other things I mean Alpha Sapphire.) Hope you enjoy this next chapter!

[Text like this represents thinking.]

Text like this represents telepathy.

Serena's once=peaceful sleep became very uneasy as the night progressed. She was tossing and turning rapidly. Thoughts and images ran through her mind all night, many of them unpleasant, at least, to her. But of everything that happened in her mind that night, nothing was worse than a flashback. It wasn't her flashback though; somehow she saw something from Ash's past.

It was getting dark out, and Ash and some friends Serena hadn't seen or even heard of yet were preparing to leave Altomare, and a boat was just about to leave. A silhouette could be seen running towards the dock. A girl was running toward him, and she had something in her hand.

The girl looked EXACTLY like Bianca.

But the dreaming girl was already confused. The girl that had appeared never said a word and wasn't wearing the white cap Bianca wore, instead it almost seemed like Latias. And, to Serena, that made sense. After all, Latias never spoke, often took on the form of Bianca, and had a close bond with Ash. Serena watched as the girl approached the trainer and handed him a piece of paper. It was a nice picture of Ash with Pikachu. Serena could not grasp what happened after. The girl bent over and kissed Ash! Serena woke suddenly, panting. Her face became red, and emotions flowed through her mind. She was angry. VERY angry. She also seemed sad, as it appeared that Ash had been claimed a long time ago, and that the bond that the two shared was minimal compared to the bond between Ash and the other two girls. Her anger was starting to gain control, though, and she could not do a thing about it.

[No!] She thought, trying her hardest to contain her rage. [I will NOT let this happen! That boy will be mine and STAY mine!] Serena had lost it. It was time to have a little talk with Bianca and Tia. And quite a talk it would be.

~-The next day...-~

Serena was up early and it was clear that she was on a mission. She had a very serious face on, and she didn't talk much. Naturally, this worried the group. Serena was normally a pretty cheerful person. Then, all of a sudden, she became very serious and it felt as if she had locked herself in a cage away from everyone else. Ash started thinking to himself. [What's happened to her? She's usually very happy and enthusiastic, but now...something isn't right. Ever since we came to Altomare...] Ash realised right away that something about Altomare was bothering Serena, and whatever it was, it was bothering her quite a lot.

"Hey, Serena," Ash said to the girl.

"What do you want?" Serena replied. Ash was surprised. Serena was very much NOT herself whatsoever.

"Is everything alright? Ever since we came to Altomare, you seem...off. What's bothering you this bad?" Ash inquired, and Serena became visibly anxious.

"Well, um...I-...It's just..."

"What?"

"There's something I need to do before I can answer that question," Serena told the trainer, and she walked off.

"Something is definitely going on here," Ash told himself. He had made it his mission to find out what was going on with Serena, because he could not stay with Serena much longer if she was going to be like this.

Meanwhile, Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie had gone out to explore the town a bit. Serena and Bianca were back at home. Tia and Tio were off somewhere, no one knew exactly where. Serena asked Bianca if she could talk to her for a little while. Bianca, knowing something was wrong, told her that she would be fine with it.

"I think we might have a bit of an issue here," Serena told Bianca, and Serena looked mad. Bianca became worried, and her face showed it.

"W-w-with w-what?" Bianca started to stutter. Suddenly Tia came in.

[Good, I can find out which one of these two idiots kissed my man,] Serena thought. She started to explain the story to Bianca and Tia.

"OK, so which one of you gave my Ash that drawing?!" she yelled. She was raging. Tia and Bianca looked at each other and refused to answer. Serena hadn't expected both of them to know! She figured that whichever one was clueless about the subject would be the one who did it, but since both knew what she was saying she found herself put in an awkward situation.

"Why does it matter to you, anyway?!" Bianca was getting angry herself. Tensions were rising. "Are you in some kind of relationship with him or something?!"

"I dunno, but it's obvious that you've been trying to get him!" Serena yelled.

"Well since you really care this much, it's clear that you're trying for Ash too!" Serena stopped. Bianca had gotten her.

Hey, take it easy! Tia told Serena.

"Oh, sure Tia, it obviously wasn't you," Serena said sarcastically. Tia's face grew red, and Serena knew she had to look no further. "So it was YOU, Tia?! YOU were the one who was trying to steal Ash from me?!"

"It's not stealing, she had him first!" Bianca argued. It was clear that it was a free-for-all for Ash, who ever got him first claimed victory. It was a war, and there were no sides. It was every girl for herself.


	7. Beginnings

Hello everybody! Sorry about the long hiatus without new chapters :( Things kept popping up and I couldn't wait to get back to the keyboard! To apologize I decided to write a chapter that takes place before Chapter 1, and will help you understand the story further. I would move this to chapter 1 and move everything else up one, but this way I can save a lot of time and explaining. Enjoy the chapter!

In the Unova region, home of Team Plasma, grunt Sebastian was tasked with finding a rare and powerful Pok mon in order to help his team accomplish their goals. He had a whole list of possible Pok mon. He kept scrolling down the list, reading off the names. He looked through all sorts of resources for any clue as to where the Pok mon might be located.  
"Let's see...Latias," he said to himself. He had recalled something involving Team Rocket and the Eon Pok mon, but had no real memory of the event. After an hour of searching, he found an old news article.  
"Oh!" he thought. "Altomare. A boy named Ash Ketchum, a Latias, and a little town known as Altomare. Perfect! Just what I need!" He packed up some Pok Balls and bought a boat ticket to a little island in Hoenn.  
Team Flare, based in the Kalos region, was tasked with capturing a rare Pok mon. They didn't know what Lysandre wanted, but they knew how he had described it - "red and white, with golden eyes." While the other grunts were searching through books and newspapers and the like, Derek had already identified and located the Pok mon - a Latias.  
"A Latias in Hoenn," he thought to himself. "And a small rural town known as Altomare." He bought a boat ticket, and packed plenty of Pok Balls and other items. Derek snuck out of Team Flare HQ and left for the boat.  
"Hey Ash!" Clemont called for the boy, who had came over to look at the flyer Clemont had in his hands. "There's a battle competition going on in a half-hour on this boat!"  
"A battle competition, huh?" Ash said. "Sounds great! Right Pikachu?"  
"Pika-pika!" the little mouse enthusiastically replied.  
"Alright! Come on, Pikachu!" The boy grabbed his Pok Balls and darted away. Clemont sighed. "That should give him something to do, now as for me..." he paused. He found some unfinished thing he was working on and continued to tinker with it.  
While Ash was at the battle competition, Sebastian went over to the boat caf and bought himself some lunch. He sat down at a table with some guy in a suit with a strange red tie, with what seemed like a logo on it.  
"Mind if I sit here?" he asked the man. Derek, who had recognized him as a Team Plasma member by the blue "P" on the stranger's bracelet, enthusiastically replied "No, not at all!"  
"What's your name?" Sebastian asked the guy in the suit.  
"Derek, yours?"  
"Sebastian."  
"I see you're a Team Plasma member?" Derek seemed to catch Sebastian off-guard.  
"Huh? What? Oh, yeah. You a member of Team Flame or whatever that team in Kalos is?" Derek seemed to take slight offense to Sebastian's lack of knowledge, but he just shrugged it off after a bit.  
"Team Flare, yes. What are you doing here?"  
"Oh, we're looking for a rare Pok mon named Latias," Sebastian replied quietly as to not reveal his plans.  
"Same, we're looking for it too."  
"Oh really? Well then, I think I might have an idea." Sebastian was great with coming up with ideas on the spot. He seemed a little too excited about it. "We could team up and capture it together! Whatdya say?"  
"Y'know, that's not too bad of an idea!" Derek replied. "What Pok mon do you have on you?"  
"A Talonflame, and an Espeon," he replied.  
"Okay. I've got a Raichu and a Gyarados. We should share Pok mon." Derek told the Plasma member. "That way, we can easily create the optimal team for each of us."  
"Fine, that works. Hey, wanna go watch the battle competition while we wait?"  
"I guess, I've got nothing to do for a while." Derek and his new companion threw away their trash and arrived at the competition right near the end. Ash was battling a trainer with a Sceptile with his Pikachu. Soon, the Sceptile was down, knocked out.  
"Sceptile is unable to battle!" the referee. "That means that Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and his Pikachu are the winner!"  
"Great job, Pikachu!" Ash praised his little buddy. "You did awesome out there!"  
"Pika pika!"  
"Ash Ketchum?" Derek and Sebastian exclaimed in unison. "We better watch out for him, then."  
The referee, who had gone to check the winner of the competition, had returned. "And the winner of the battle competiton is..." All of the trainers, Ash included, were excited. One of them was about to be the winner, and each participant knew it would be themselves.  
"...Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" Sebastian and Derek became worried instantly. The boy who had stopped Annie and Oakley, top members of Team Rocket, and who had just won an entire battle competition, was heading to Altomare too! And if he were to find out about their plans, they would be over for sure.  
In Altomare, Latias was sitting alone somewhere, and anyone who saw her would have easily known that she was lonely. Very lonely. Lucky for her, a Latios, who was also feeling lonely, flew above. The Latios and Latias saw each other, and Latias showed it around. The Latios decided to stay.  
Later that night, Ash and his friends were getting ready for bed. Ash jumped into bed, and dozed off. Pikachu was looking around for any spare ketchup packets, but couldn't find any. It fell asleep next to it's trainer, dreaming of the day it started raining ketchup.  
"Alright, Espeon, come on out!" Sebastian whispered. He was planning on erasing Ash's memory altogether by using Hypnosis. He had thought of it himself and Derek was easily impressed. Espeon snuck in to Ash's room. "Use Hypnosis!" The little cat started Hypnosis, but after five minutes, the grunt heard a guard coming by. He was instantly nervous. "Espeon, return!" he ordered. He sneakily ran away from the guard. But, because Hypnosis had failed, Ash only forgot the past seven or so hours. And so, the adventure begins! 


End file.
